Barefoot in Britain – yet again: On multiple identities,intersection(ality) and marginality

Abstract

Anticipating later debates on multiculturalism and class ‘fractions’, anthropologists in Britain have recognised that migrants and diasporas bear multiple identities, meaning that their cultures cannot and should not be essentialised as homogeneous. For anthropologists, the importance of studying these groups’ multiple identities lies in the recognition that none of the social unities evoked – of identity, diaspora, community, nation, tradition – are consensus-based wholes; all are the products of ongoing debates and political struggles or alliances. This article argues that while multiple identities and intersectionality appear to be linked, in the sense that both concern matters of identity and identity politics, they differ radically. In this respect anthropologists of Britain have differed from sociologists and political scientists in arguing, first, for an understanding that identities can be empowering, valorised and deeply affective, and second, that identities are performed in situ – they are situational, shifting, self-defining and culturally embedded.